Loss a painful one for Kaepernick

As Steve Young observed last week, the NFL is a “big-boy league” and it’s not always going to be easy or glory-filled for a young player. After two remarkable games as a starter, Colin Kaepernick felt the other side of what the NFL offers. Frustration. Pain. Defeat.

In a strange, error-filled 16-13 overtime loss to the Rams on Sunday, Kaepernick frequently looked like an inexperienced and overwhelmed player. And he wanted to blame himself for the key mistakes.

“It was my fault all the way,” Kaepernick said.

That’s not true. The fault for the loss belongs with many people, starting with head coach Jim Harbaugh who approved a crazy, risky call in a tight game. The pitch play that went awry, and led to the Rams’ only touchdown, was a strange bit of arrogance in a game with no room for error.

And that’s what the 49ers have now: no margin for error. With the loss, their record is 8-3-1. Their cause was helped by Seattle’s victory over Chicago, allowing the 49ers to maintain their hold on the second seed in the NFC, a position that would give them a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the divisional round.

The 49ers have a half-game lead over both Chicago and Green Bay. Still, the 49ers have back-to-back difficult road games, a Sunday nighter in New England on Dec. 16 and a matchup with Seattle on Dec. 23.

They will, presumably, be relying on Kaepernick to win those games. Harbaugh said that he “feels” that Kaepernick will start next Sunday. But the head coach has to know that the questions will continue to come if Kaepernick has another rough outing. That’s the situation Harbaugh has created, with his unprecedented benching of a starting quarterback who was playing well for a team that seems, at least at times, Super Bowl-caliber.

Teams will prepare for Kaepernick and take a page from what St. Louis head coach Jeff Fisher did Sunday. The Rams had an excellent game plan, bringing heavy pressure on Kaepernick and taking away his deep options. Kaepernick was sacked three times and was forced out of bounds several times.

“They did have a lot of good calls,” Kaepernick said. “It seemed like they were in the right defense for things we were trying to do.”

The game was almost as odd as the tie at Candlestick three weeks earlier, except that the 49ers were motivated from the opening kick. They started strongly with a first-quarter touchdown run by Frank Gore and more impressive passing from Kaepernick.

But in the second half, the 49ers’ offense stalled. Backed into his end zone, Kaepernick scrambled to avoid pressure and threw the ball away. He was called for intentional grounding, and the Rams were awarded a safety – their first points of the game.

Kaepernick argued that he was outside the tackle box and that the ball made it to the line of scrimmage, even though it was out of bounds. Replays showed that Kaepernick was right.

Harbaugh couldn’t challenge. Referee Carl Cheffers said after the game that, because it is a penalty, “none of that is subject to review.”

What’s two measly points? A lot, it turns out. The 49ers padded their lead to 10-2 with David Akers’ 23-yard field goal. With less than five minutes to play, the 49ers again took possession deep in their territory.

On 3rd-and-3 from their 17, the 49ers called an inexplicably risky play: a pitchout to infrequently targeted Ted Ginn Jr. Kaepernick sailed the ball high over Ginn’s head. Janoris Jenkins recovered it and carried it into the end zone for a touchdown. A two-point conversion tied the score.

Harbaugh didn’t overrule Greg Roman’s play call and was second-guessing it later, saying, “I would love to have that one back. … It was too risky of a play to call at that time.”

It’s the coach’s job to protect a young player and put him in the best situation – but Kaepernick blamed himself.

“I gave up those points on the scoreboard for the Rams,” Kaepernick said. “It’s 100 percent my fault.”

He tried to make things right late in the fourth quarter. He took off downfield, running for 50 yards, assisted by great blocks from Frank Gore and Bruce Miller. But, later in the drive, Kaepernick made a mental error when he ran out of bounds on third down. That stopped the clock and, after Akers made a go-ahead field goal, the Rams had enough time to get downfield and force overtime on Greg Zuerlein’s 53-yard field goal.

In overtime, the 49ers made curious choices again, playing conservatively before settling for a 51-yard attempt by Akers, who had appeared on the injury report last week and said he has been nursing a pelvis injury for a while. Not surprisingly, he missed the attempt. Zuerlein made a 54-yard field goal for the win.

It’s December and we still can’t be sure what to make of the 49ers. They have played poorly every third game this season, losing to Minnesota and to the Giants, then tying and now losing to the Rams. In between those outings, they have looked like the best team in the league.

The NFL is a big-boy league, and every week is going to be tough and unpredictable. As Alex Smith could have – and probably has – told Kaepernick, there are going to be rough days.

Kaepernick’s rough days are coming down the stretch, with little margin for error.